Introduction

All public bodies are required to include accessibility as a mandatory requirement in the procurement of products and services that are to be used by people. The aim of this guidance document is, after an overview of this mandatory requirement, to describe how it may be addressed in the procurement of technology products through use of and reference to two European standards documents, CEN-CENELEC Guide 6 / ISO/IEC Guide 71 and EN 301 549. It also provides a worked example of the use of these two European standards documents in identifying technology products to meet the needs of users in a project conducted by ALONE.

This document:

• describes the benefits of using both CEN-CENELEC Guide 6 / ISO/IEC Guide 71 and EN 301 549 when describing users’ needs and the functional performance of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) products, respectively.
• demonstrates how EN 301 549 “Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services” can be used in the evaluation, selection and procurement of technology to support older people.
• demonstrates how applying the accessibility requirements in EN 301 549 can extend the range of people who will be able to use the technology in the context of the ALONE Sláintecare project.